We are often asked “should our event include an “Acknowledgement of Country or Welcome to Country,” and our response is “most definitely YES”. But rarely are we asked why a Welcome to Country matters and its importance in understanding and respecting First Nations culture.

Why Welcomes matter

The traditional community structure and social aspects of First Nations culture were highly complex and sophisticated. The dominant Aboriginal value of unselfishness was based on kinship and spiritual obligations and these influenced all aspects of life including the places where groups could pass through each other’s territorial boundaries.

First Nations people had intimate knowledge of all the living systems of the region they lived in. The free exchange of gifts reinforced social bonds and trading scarce goods like boomerangs and ochre developed strong communities.

For thousands of years people travelled the length and breadth of the Country for trade, spiritual significant, cultural festivals, kinship and access to food and resources. They developed a sophisticated system of navigation and community passed on from generation to generation via ceremonial songs (Songlines/Song Maps).

Ceremonial Songs and Welcome to Country

As a sign of respect for each other, crossing into another group’s Country required a request for permission to enter.

Ceremonial songs and Songlines

Song lines and ceremonial songs contained information about the land, the types of food that was safe to eat, water sources, dangerous or sacred places to be avoided, social morays of the area and the boundaries of each Clans Country that the traveller could pass through.

Songlines described features and landmarks such as scar trees, rock formations or bends in rivers that the traveller should look out for so they knew they are going in the right direction. Each clan and language group had responsibility for specific tracts of land, waterways and sea country with communities looked after these traditional walking routes, regularly burning off overgrowth, creating water storage caches and clearing paths.

With over 200 different Aboriginal languages and hundreds of dialects Songline verses were incredibly important. Within each clan, various members learnt different verses of the Songline that related to a particular region. These verses were sung in the local language so that the people living there knew that the travellers were passing through in a respectful manner. By singing the songs in the appropriate sequence, people could navigate vast distances across the continent.

The Songlines were an integral part of travel. First Nations people relied heavily on effective socialization to ensure individual conformity to society’s rules thus travellers were required to undertake the appropriate protocols to receive a welcome and safe passage. The host group would grant approval and welcome the visitors with a ceremony of singing, dancing and feasting, offering safe passage and spiritual protection whilst on that land. At the same time, the visiting group would respect their host’s rules and protocols.

So effective were the Songlines and protocols that Desert communities around “Alice Springs” could sing their way over 3500 km’s along the ancient travel route that connected the central desert region around “Alice Springs” with the eastern coast of “NSW”. This vast travel route allowed the desert communities to safely visit the ocean and the coastal communities to visit the culturally important sites of Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

Boomerangs from the south were traded for red ochre from the North and pearl shells from the Kimberley’s found their way to the Great Australian Bight. The Dieri people east of Lake Eyre travelled several hundred miles to exchange red ochre for Pituri (a form of chewing tobacco) and the Gunditjmara people of south-eastern Australia traded smoked eel all along the eastern coast.

With the advent of colonisation many of these traditional routes evolved to become bitumen covered roads used today include the Nepean Highway, Dandenong Road, Plenty Road, Heidelberg Road, Geelong Road and Ballarat Road.

TODAY

Today, much has changed, and these protocols have been adapted to contemporary circumstances. However, the essential elements of welcoming visitors and offering safe passage remain in place.

The Difference Between

Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country

Both Welcome and Acknowledgement have the same purpose – to officially welcome guests to the land of the traditional custodians and to thank the ancestors for their permission – with the key difference being who conducts the ceremony.
A Welcome to Country must be offered by an First Nations Elder, or an indigenous person who has been endorsed by their local First Nations community.
A Welcome to Country occurs at the beginning of a formal event and can take many forms including singing, dancing, smoking ceremonies or a speech in traditional language or English.
This acknowledgement is especially important to First Nations people because of the impact of European colonisation and the ensuing period where their culture was largely denied. It’s a meaningful way to honour Australia’s traditional cultures and their deep spiritual connection to the land we now inhabit.
For formal and large events, it’s best to include a detailed Welcome ceremony that can include didgeridoo, dancing and singing:

· Larger conferences

· High profile sporting events

· Events with international delegates

· Formal events with politicians present

· Events for heavily scrutinised industries, such as finance, banking and development

An Acknowledgment to Country can be performed by a non-indigenous Australian, and is the more common version of the ceremony.
It’s appropriate to include an Acknowledgement of Country at any event or gathering.

Acknowledgement of Country

While there isn’t a set protocol for Acknowledgement of Country, it normally takes the following forms:

“I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders past and present.”

A more specific approach includes the name of the traditional custodians of the land:

“I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today, the (people) of the (nation) and pay my respects to Elders past and present.”

For example, if you’re hosting an event in the City of Sydney area, it would read:

“I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of this land and pay my respects to the Elders both past and present.”

In Melbourne

“I would like to acknowledge the the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation the traditional custodians of this land and pay my respects to the Elders both past and present.”

Final Note

In First Nations cultures, the meaning of Country is more than just ownership or connection to land, as Professor Mick Dodson explains: “When we talk about traditional ‘Country’…we mean something beyond the dictionary definition of the word. For First Nations Australians…we might mean homeland, or tribal or clan area and we might mean more than just a place on the map. For us, Country is a word for all the values, places, resources, stories and cultural obligations associated with that area and its features. It describes the entirety of our ancestral domains. While they may all no longer necessarily be the title-holders to land, First Nations Australians are still connected to the Country of their ancestors and most consider themselves the custodians or caretakers of their land.”

Author

Sean Ryan

Sean is a Kuku Nyunkal man from far North Queensland and has spent the last 30 years performing traditional ceremonies, songs, and dances to audiences worldwide in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific region. As an accomplished Yidiki player, Sean has performed Welcome to Country ceremonies on countless occasions and has an exceptional knowledge of the traditional lore around such ceremonies.